1989 Rover - Austin Metro Reviews

Clutch cable snapped, brake lights circuit failed (kept blowing fuse, so had a penny jammed in there).

Car was extremely slow for driving in the modern era. Motor way cruising uncomfortable.

Suffered poor starting of points system, and took quite a time to get going. If you joined straight into traffic, it was a nightmare.

This car's engine was worn, and poor bhp new. improved after a good service however.

The car used a good 500 ml of oil every 100 miles.

However this car was ultra cheap (£250) and only failed its MOT on rusty sills. Nothing was needed for the car, and it never really broke down. I assume the electrical fault was down to a bad earth, or switch. I managed a 200 miles trip on about 12 pounds of petrol (in England, 90p per litre, which is outstanding, but I was doing 50mpg!)

The car was a good load lugger and served me well as a stop gap for year in my youth. It had an almost retro feel with the classic a-series whine.

The engine mountings were soft.

The indicator switch packed it in.

Headlights stopped working due to switch.

The exhaust fell off three times due to mountings.

Rear wiper stopped working and suddenly started again a month later.

Left CV on it's way out.

Despite all the problems I've had, the car is cheap to repair.

The parts are readily available from main dealers in the U.K. and from a wide variety of breakers yards.

The car is great fun to drive, but not great for pulling birds.

Cheap insurance and tax is great.

The engine never started without the choke (even minutes after turning it off). With the choke full out on cold days it needed a severe caning to warm it up - otherwise it just died.

The near side CV joint boot kept slipping off allowing grit and scum to contaminate the grease inside it.

The road noise was so loud you had to shout to the other passengers.

The engine was knackered after only 60000 miles. I know loads of other metro drivers with the same problem - the engines are just not built to last.

The steering wheel was large enough to be used on a bus and at a stupid angle.

The hydrogas suspension leval was constantly changing and needed topping up (and letting out) all the time. Consequently this has the effect of upsetting the tracking and prematurely wearing the tyres.

Broken fuel gauge.

Good fun car to learn to drive in or as your first car.

Not reliable anytime, anywhere.

Driving it reminded me of being on a badly erected fairground ride.

Poor mileage - about 22 mpg was the most I ever got out of it.

Still cost loads to insure even for a crappy car. (Maybe that says something about it's safety?!?)